


The Next Time

by resett22



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Gen, Minor Swearing, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 15:30:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8061814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/resett22/pseuds/resett22
Summary: "I always thought being a twin was a hard thing. Everyone always finds a way to put you together. It's like you're not considered two people. Even when we were kids, our parents dressed us alike, and when we joined up and got sent to the program, they stuck us together. People thought we were special somehow I suppose. I used to hate that. All I ever wanted was to have my own life. And here I am now, just wondering how I'm gonna live without him."... what if you don't?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first RvB publication, I hope you enjoy it. Of course, none of the characters belongs to me but to Rooster Teeth, only the plot is of my invention. I apologise for my possible mistakes, English is not my first language. I also apologise if South seems out of character; she is hard to work with.

There was the faint echo of a drop, falling into a pool of water. The crystalline reflection reached the tops, the waves filling the rocky roof with dim layers of sky blue. But it was not the only light. Somewhere behind her, she felt it. It was the warm and soothing feeling of daylight coming through. South, however, was too focused on the mirror-like water, so calm except for the constant wave caused by the small drop.

Holding the question in her mind and lips for a bit longer, she slowly turned around to check her surroundings. It was a task she had performed many times before, but never while standing in water as steady as if it was the ground. Her steps disrupted the rhythm of the surface, but not its peace, which could be even breathed.

However, it did not reach her heart nor mind.

With her mind slowly setting in, she started to bring back her most recent memories. North’s death, her betrayal to Wash and the acquisition of Delta... she sighed. Now she had done it. She had sunk deeper than she had expected, but just as deep as she could. Her eyes went from the ground to her surroundings, trying to steal the peace from the reflection of the water, from its colour. But nothing happened.

Her wondering and passive questioning were brought to a sudden end, however. Looking at her reflection in the water, she remembered: a gun aimed at her head, a bullet perforating her skull. The gunshot resonated in her ears and she quickly moved her right hand to her forehead, in where she expected to find the hole of a bullet, and maybe blood.

However, the reflection only showed a confused woman, her eyes wide open in distress. Wandering her gaze from the face of said reflection to her clothes, she noticed these were unusually... civilian, rather than the heavy purple armour she had become used to wear. There were no traces of war on neither her hands nor her face, nor was a scar on what was visible of her legs. The only print of the damage was in her traumatized glare, which was questioning her reflection with sudden fear...

"What...?" she muttered aloud, forgetting she was not wearing a helmet and therefore not transmitting. Nobody was listening to her.

Turning around, she started looking for someone, anyone, that could explain to her where she was or what had happened. Was she dead? How then she still felt... anything, really? Was this the afterlife? Was this the judgement for her sins and her condemnation? What...?

What is this place? She wondered, trying not to lose calm, even though her respiration had accelerated and her eyes had begun to wander from one side to the other with increased velocity.

She seemed to be in some sort of great cave, with an extensive fog covering its ends. It felt like a dream, but the light coming through its opening felt real and alive and welcoming. It was also very blinding, she could not look to the horizon without squinting and even then it hurt her pale blue eyes.

"Hello?" she tried, noticing something coming, maybe walking, towards her with a steady pace. Her voice had not been as confident as it used to be and, weaponless as she was, she feared to face this possible enemy, this possible incoming judgement.

She took a step back but refused to break eye contact. Placing her right hand over her eyes to provide some shadow, she squinted to get a better look of who was coming. Her pounding heart, however, quickly recognized them. Her respiration quickened again.

"H-Hello!?" she tried, harder, but now wary. Her free hand closed into a tight fist, but she doubted she would be able to punch anyone, not if she was shaking like a leaf, which she was doing, albeit unwillingly.

"Nina?" said the intruder, his voice echoing through the place.

South took another step back, shaking more violently as the well-known voice of her brother called to her. She could not see him, not clearly. The light protected his face as well as most of himself, but his silhouette was too familiar for her not to recognize him now. She could see the edges of his blonde hair gleaming, his pale skin as unscathed as hers. Even the worn-out jeans he was wearing were familiar to her. They were his favourites.

Lip quivering, South refused to believe it was him. Had she involuntarily called him with her distressed voice? North had the ability to know whenever she was in trouble or getting into them. Could it be that, despite everything, he had come to help her?

 _Idiot!_ She thought, trying to get a hold of herself. _He's dead! Dead! You killed him! We killed him! I killed him!_

Angry and remorseful tears started to form, but she refused to cry. No, he was not there, he was not real! He could not be. Nino was dead.

 _Dead,_ she told herself again. And it had been her fault.

She took a step back, and then another. Feeling her mental stability beginning to break, South did not know what to do. Should she turn around and run away? She feared to give her back to this... ghost. Should she stay, then? She feared to face him even more so. Closing her eyes, she hoped he would not be there for when she opened them, but as the steps became closer and closer she knew he would not leave. Panicking, she clutched her arms around her and crouched on the watery surface. She buried her face between her knees and chest and there... there she tried to muffle down her fears. He could not be there, he was dead, dead.

"Nina...?" tried the voice again. He sounded as kind and gentle as he had been when alive. South quivered and tried to shrink herself even more. She felt his hand trying to reach out for her shoulder, but she recoiled from the proximity with dread.

"Don't...!" she yelled out of instinct. She hated when North tried to console her, she hated whenever he found her in this miserable state! Why couldn't he just leave her alone!? Did it look like she needed the fucking babysitter he could be right now!? Fright was quickly replaced with anger, the anger she constantly felt for how he could be so 'good' to everyone. She removed her head from its hiding place, a furious look meeting that stupid smile. His face had no trace of resentment or anger for her betrayal. She loathed that. How could he shrug off everything that went wrong and be fucking nice?

With tears still strolling down her face, she stood up; her expression of rage unchanged as she finally faced her brother. Her cheeks were red and blotchy; her eyes were slightly puffy due to the tears that had already fallen. Yet, none of that mattered in that moment.  She was for once standing tall and furious at him like she had never been. North stood up slowly and remained as sympathetic as always, waiting for her tantrum to begin.

"How can you even look at me like that after everything I did!?" she yelled, trying to keep her eyes set on his face despite the hurt of the light coming from behind him. "Don't you have a little respect for yourself!?"

North said nothing, but she heard him exhale air through his nose, a sign of his smile widening, though just a little. As close as they were from the other now, both could recognize each other's facial traits, the ones that supposedly told them apart, for their reactions were usually the opposite and it was as if their faces had shaped to fit those. North always looked more welcoming, South always looked more hostile.

"What?" he said nonchalantly, "you want me to make a scene like you're doing now?"

South took the bait. Heck, she took it and tied it around her wrist and then fucking pulled! Did **_he_** dare to taunt her!? He was in for it! Heck, _**she**_ was in for it! She was going to teach him, give him a lesson!

"Don't provoke me, North!" she remarked, her face inches away from his, menacingly. She had no idea what game North was playing, but she was having none of it. Why couldn't he, just for once, leave his stupid 'mature brother' facade aside and act humanly!? Couldn't he just hate her guts!?

"Let it go, Nina," he said, softly and passively as ever. "It's not like we can die again."

As true as that was, it did not diminish her sudden desire of punching him. She looked aside and then huffed, turning around and running her fingers through her hair in distress. She had killed her brother and then managed to get killed by Wash. The more she thought of it, the less it made sense. In what moment her brother had stopped becoming a part of herself and more of a nuisance? When the heck had she decided his death would be better than his constant paternal attitude?

"Nina..." North tried again, taking her hand and squeezing it so she would believe he was there. South did not reject him but squeezed his hand as well. Her eyes did not leave the ground, but having calmed down North knew, this time, she would listen to him.

"Nina, we were played," he said. "Used and manipulated so we would tear each other apart! We were never taken for our skills or attributes; they never really cared about us!"

"It was never your fault," he added, trying to ease the burden of her guilt.

South said nothing, despite the news being a great shock. She would have never figured that, but she guessed something must have been wrong in her to do everything she did, for she didn't feel any of that anymore. She was free, perhaps not in the way she had intended to, but free at last. However...

"I still betrayed you, Nino..." she said, her voice low. North extended his arms around her and let her head rest on his chest. She didn't protest. She was done fighting.

"I thought that despite all the hell we could go through, separately and together, I would never leave you, not like that. I just..." she stopped for a moment, closing her eyes as she finally had the peace of mind and the courage to voice her innermost thought "I just wanted to find myself, not lose you."

Letting her head rest on his chest, she tried to suppress the anguish which was overcoming her. She did not want to cry in front of him again. She was, after all, the kind of woman that regarded such actions as a sign of weakness. But North knew her all too well; he could understand her better than anyone, even if not a hundred percent. When she cared for someone, she cared until death. She would have never betrayed him if someone had not tampered with her head and, hell! If he had not been killed first, he would not have hesitated to shoot down his way until reaching the son of a bitch who put her against him.

He hugged her tightly, trying not to let that rage take the best of him. South, feeling at ease now, placed her arms around him and stayed there, trying to heal with that embrace all the wrong she had done to him.

"I'm sorry that I was an over-protective 'dad figure' and annoyed you so much," he nearly whispered. He should have given her the space she deserved the moment they had started high school, but he always felt more comfortable around her rather than with anyone else, regardless of how well he could get along with others.

"It's okay..." she mumbled back after a sigh. “It’s your thing, after all. You are the amiable one and I'm the surly one. Remember?”

Both let go a small smile. Of course, they remembered. Almost every boy and girl were after North and not because of his looks, yet if anyone wanted to get him they had to go through South first. It had been very amusing years for the Dakota twins. Their best pranks were spent in and out of the classroom.

Both remained in there a few more seconds, thinking of the good moments they had shared in life. They had fought many times too, and they had not required of freelancer equipment to battle as violent and as epic as they had done later on. However, despite everything they had gone through, nothing had ever broken their bond. And now that they had finally received a chance to reach forgiveness and redemption, nothing would break them apart again.

"C'mon," said North, breaking the embrace though not the moment. "Everyone is waiting for us."

South looked at him quizzically, to which North only answered with another smile. _Are they all... dead?_

"Don't worry, you'll see when we get there," he said, grabbing her hand. South, although hating to be left out of the recent events, even if momentarily, did not protest.

"Fine," she agreed, with a scowl. Squeezing her brother's hand, she followed him as he started to walk towards the welcoming and warm light. She took a deep breath and tried to tranquilize herself. There were many things for which she would have to respond to everyone, but at least there was one certain thing to which she could hold onto.

 _This time, it’s forever,_ she thought, a confident smile crossing her lips.

As much of a separate individual they could be from each other, being on their own did not suit the Dakota Twins. And so, they walked towards the mysterious horizon together, its blinding light never feeling as heartwarming as it did now. How they had gotten there, they had no idea. Had it been the work of some cosmic coincidence or had it been part of a God’s plan all along? Maybe they’ll never know, however, one thing was for sure; they were grateful for it.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you guess the songs that inspired me through this? I hope you liked it! Constructive criticism is always welcome!


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